MANAMA: Enterprise building, incubation, linking to finance and market are the pillars that support our entrepreneurial ecosystem and industrial policies.
This was stated by Zayed R. Al Zayani during the opening of a workshop on “Enhancing the Quality of Industrial Policies” on Sunday and applauded initiatives encouraging the entrepreneurial culture.
The United Nations Industrial Development (UNIDO) chose the Kingdom of Bahrain to be a center for the International Academy for training and preparing cadres in the industrial sector.
The first workshop of the center is “enhancing the Quality of Industrial policies” was held under the patronage of Zayed R. Al Zayani, the Minister of Industry and Commerce.
The event was organized by the UNIDO in cooperation with the German Agency for International Cooperation and in presence of German Ambassador Mrs. Sabine Taufmann.
The Minister expressed government appreciation for this initiative stating in his speech that “Manama was recently declared by UNIDO and the Arab Thought Forum as the “First Arab Capital for Entrepreneurship & Innovation” in recognition of our pioneering work in the field of entrepreneurship development.
“The industrial policies must aim at creation of high productivity workplaces from the inception stage of any enterprise; transformation of low productivity workplaces into high productive workplaces subsequently is often more difficult and cost intensive. Development of evaluation and empirical analysis capabilities is essential both inside and outside of government and I would like to compliment UNIDO and GIZ on this important initiative to build the capacity for evidence based analysis for industrial policy making,” the Minister, added.
“The basic objective of any industrial policy is to make it easier to do business within the rules of law and provide a simple yet effective and transparent regulatory mechanism. I would like to state that the Kingdom of Bahrain has been a great believer and practitioner of this business philosophy that accords a place of prominence to the private sector in all economic policy making. The role of the Government has been to provide a regulatory supportive business environment in which enterprises can start, thrive and grow,” he added.
The President of Royal University for Women Mazen Juma delivered a speech expressing University appreciation for UNIDO initiative for chosen the Kingdom the center for the International Academy and for chosen the University to first launch this center. The German Ambassador also delivered a speech confirming the keenness of the Federal Republic of Germany to support development and training projects led by specialized international organizations.
Head of the Investment Office at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization Dr. Hashim Hussain also delivered a speech on this occasion.